Everyone has pros and cons to bringing the Canada Winter Games to Prince George and in the forefront of this debate is the tearing down and/or reconfiguring of the Kin 1 arena.
It is understandable that building Kin 4 may be more costly, but an extra ice surface is already desperately needed due to the number of constituents already using these facilities and those waiting for the opportunity. Ice time is already at a premium and a new rink must already be in the long range plans for the city.
The optimal solution would be to add another facility to our community if funding is already being allocated towards an ice rink project.
The optimal solution is not always feasible in our economy. Worst case scenario, there is not enough money for a Kin 4. Why then is Kin 1 the rink being chosen to reconfigure? It is by far the best minor hockey ice rink in the city.
The ice itself is considered the best, the view for spectators is in a league above the other 2 Kins, the seating capacity is large enough to accommodate tournament games e.g. Pee Wee Tournament of Champions, and it has always proven to have a comfortable, entertaining atmosphere for these events.
If we are forced to reconfigure one of our existing ice rinks, as inconvenient as that would be to every level of ice hockey, figure skating, lacrosse, what is the problem with doing all this updating to the backside of the Kin Arenas in Kin 2?
That rink is uncomfortable, cold for spectators, hard to see from both the two or three rows of seating and the upstairs. Why is Kin 2 not being considered as the rink to turn into one that rivals all the benefits of our existing Kin 1?
It makes no sense why we would improve the best rink, when we can improve the worst rink by the widest of margins. If we are going to argue against spending various amounts of money on our rinks, should we not then get the biggest bang for the bucks we do spend?
As a longtime resident of Prince George and user of all six ice surfaces for the past 35 years, if the most practical solution is out of reach, I would be in favour of keeping the best rink in PG as is.
Frank Crosina
Prince George
